Modern motor vehicles and mobile electronic devices often provide mapping and navigation applications to assist a user while driving or traveling. Existing digital mapping systems typically provide two modes for map display: two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D). A 2D map is best used for understanding urban layout and route planning, whereas a 3D map is best suited for appearance recognition. Both modes have their drawbacks as well. With a 2D map, it is not possible to see the building shapes and appearances. A map of Manhattan may appear similar to the map of a small downtown in 2D. While the user can certainly switch to a 3D map view to get additional information, the 3D map often looks cluttered with important elements such as road occluded by buildings. It is therefore difficult for the user to establish a connection between these two modes in order to form a complete image of the geographic region in mind.
While some prior art systems attempt to combine 2D and 3D maps in a single display, the maps often lack contextual information that assists the user in interpreting the maps and finding meaningful information without suffering from information overload when the system presents overly complicated or confusing graphics. As a result, the application of these methods can be limited. Consequently, improvements to the input and graphical generation processes in mapping and navigation systems to generate map displays that combine appropriate 2D, 3D, and contextual information would be beneficial.